


something deeper

by Anonymous



Category: Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-30
Updated: 2020-07-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:28:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25618864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Luke, I am your soulmate
Relationships: Luke Skywalker/Darth Vader
Comments: 6
Kudos: 86
Collections: Anonymous, Just Married Exchange 2020





	something deeper

**Author's Note:**

  * For [yujacheong](https://archiveofourown.org/users/yujacheong/gifts).



When Luke nears adulthood, he wants to join the Academy, but Aunt Behru and Uncle Owen tell him no. They say they need him on the farm.

"Maybe next year," Aunt Behru says, but Luke can hear the lie in her voice.

By doing this, they believe they can protect him. They think he's safely hidden away on their farm on Tatooine where no one can find him, especially not the Empire. They're wrong.

Soulmarks are one of the oldest magics in the universe. The Jedi claimed they're connected to the Force, though they don't understand how. Other mystics will say it's something deeper. Scientists have studied them for years.

Soulmarks are present in many different species. In a wide, weird galaxy with a vast array of body types and communication methods, they're a literal mark of a sentient species. You can't have a soulmark without a soul. Droids don't have them. The pits of teeth in the Tatooine desert don't have them. No one but Sand People know if they have them. Hutts have them. Humans have them. Gungans have them. Everyone who could join the now defunct Republic was from a species that fielded soulmarks. The presence of a mark is necessary to join the Academy, though there are rumors that if your match is an undesirable in some way, you'll be immediately jettisoned.

Luke's had one since he was born. It's not legal to look until you're of age. There are unofficial listings, of course, but they're full of grifters and frauds and the occasional Empire stooge set to catch and arrest those who would willingly break Imperial law.

Luke's waited his whole life to find out who's on the other end of that connection. He doesn't ask his aunt or uncle about this like he had with the Academy. He goes straight to registration first thing in the morning, taking the speeder to town.

Most matches end in marriage. People who have the same mark in the same location used to be brought together by one of the unofficial registries that existed before the Empire's nice, official, formal registry. There were hundreds of them, local municipalities, planets, systems. The Senate voted over and over over whether to centralize the information and whether marriages without a mark should be legal. There was too much controversy for any greater government to decide. Every vote was shot down with a no.

There's only the one official registry now. If Luke's match is out there, that's where he'll find them.

Luke didn't make an appointment, so he has to wait. While he waits, he has to fill out a form with basic information. Birth date, height, weight, hair and eye color, all sorts of information. It's still not as much as the Academy would require. Luke shrugs and fills it all in. When he finally gets a room, there's a machine that scans him for false marks, then documents the starburst on Luke's left shoulder blade that he's only seen in holos of himself and backwards in the mirror. The machine doesn't touch him, but Luke shivers as the light of the scan flickers up and down the skin, permanently capturing this bit of his soul so he can find and share it with the other person it belongs to.

Will they be human, he wonders. Will they be male or female or some other gender entirely? Will he find them immediately attractive or will he need to learn to appreciate their form? Will they find him attractive? How much older than he is are they that he would have been born with the mark? Seconds? Minutes? Decades? He has so many questions, all of which are so close to being answered.

"The mark is not in the database," an electronic voice issues from the speakers.

That can't be right. "Run it again."

"Response not recognized," the electronic voice says.

Luke comes to the horrified realization that he didn't even warrant a medical droid, only the most basic of AIs. "I have a soulmate," Luke insists even though he's as good as talking to himself.

"Please wait," the electronic voice says.

Luke gets dressed and waits. He waits some more. He gets bored of waiting. He tries the door, determined to find someone to talk to about this and maybe get some answers, but the door is locked. He knocks on the door, but no one answers. He pounds on it and is summarily ignored. He's stuck and he has the sinking feeling it isn't because of some sort of mechanical error.

Eventually someone comes; several someones in point of fact. There is a woman in the bland white medical uniform that the majority of the staff wore. She's flanked by two Stormtroopers, their faces hidden by the hard white and black helmets. THey have blasters at their hips, but their hands are at their sides, not close to the weapons. Their presence is alarming, but at least they don't look like they want to shoot him.

The woman apologizes for the wait. She says Luke will have to wait a while longer yet, but that his soulmate will be coming to meet him. She invites Lukek to stay in their VIP room for the duration. It's not a suggestion. She escorts him there with the Stormtrooper pacing behind them.

"The machine said that there was no match found," Luke says.

"Your mark was flagged. Your match's identity is private, but someone will be coming to collect you shortly," the woman says. 

She doesn't say who the match is or even if they're the same person as the person coming to get him. He's left in the VIP room, made comfortable with food and beverages and an invitation to use the attached washroom, with the pair of Stormtroopers guarding the door. He's traded a barren exam room for a comfortable couch and seventeen different flavors of beverages. He gets the feeling he's a prisoner.

Luke has new questions. Is he in trouble? Is his match a political dissident? If they're a political dissident, will he used as leverage for their good behavior? Will he still be expected to marry them?

Luke does not imagine the truth, which is that his match is not in fact a dissident but rather the emperor's main enforcer. The person who comes to pick him up dismisses the Stormtroopers at his door with a deep voice that's as mechanical as the program that ran the match. He shows no more of his face than the Stormtroopers, but his mask is a solid black. Luke is speechless sitting on the comfortable couch with his warm cup of highly caffeinated tea. Darth Vader stands in the door staring at him for an uncomfortably long time.

"Would you like some tea?" Luke manages finally to offer, lifting his own mug.

"No," Darth Vader says in a very final tone.

"Are you my match?" Luke asks to confirm, because he suddenly worries that maybe his match isn't only a dissident, but a rebel. Maybe Darth Vader, main enforcer to the emperor, is here to do some of that enforcing. It seems like overkill, but it seems even weirder to imagine any other reason he could be there.

"Your name is Luke Skywalker?" Darth Vader asks in turn.

"Yes," Luke says.

"Then yes. Luke, I am your soulmate," Darth Vader says. It's hard to tell from his harsh mechanical voice if he's pleased.

Luke takes a deep draw of his tea. He's soulmates with Darth Vader. His aunt and uncle wouldn't even let him go to the Academy, but now he's going to marry one of the most highly ranked members of the Empire.

"It's nice to meet you," Luke says inanely once he's swallowed the tea.

Darth Vader has a pad for their marriage contract. Luke signs it without the chance to read it and also provides an electronic handprint when prompted. Darth Vader does not remove his hand from his gloves, but he also signs. He hands it off to someone right outside the door.

"Come." Darth Vader stands outside the door with an attitude of expectation he manages to convey despite the full body armor. "Leave the tea."

Luke follows Darth Vader. They take a speeder which Darth Vader drives directly to the space port. When Luke tries to ask questions, Darth Vader stares at him instead of the road and does not actually answer any of them, so Luke quickly learns to keep any questions to himself. Darth Vader directs them to a small craft. It's dark, sleek, and not at all what Luke would expect of Empire standard. It seems like it will fit two people.

"Could I at least get to go back and get my things?" Luke asks, though he knows better, because they're at the space port about to enter a small space ship, so it's not like Darth Vader's going to let him turn around and pack a bag. It's not like this is a vacation.

"What you need will be provided for you," Darth Vader says.

Luke gets on the ship, the start of his new married life to a controversial figure and mysterious stranger.


End file.
